


Et tu?

by a_salty_alto



Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Study, Friends to Enemies, Gen, My First Work in This Fandom, Relationship Study, Spoilers: v08e05 Amity, V8 episode 5 spoilers, can it befriends to enemies if they don't necessarily consider themselves friends?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28015728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_salty_alto/pseuds/a_salty_alto
Summary: When Winter and the others return with Penny, Marrow isn’t there.“What happened?” Harriet asks and she’s expecting to hear that there’s another body. They’d mentioned running into those damn kids again in the tundra, after all.
Relationships: Marrow Amin & Harriet Bree
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Et tu?

**Author's Note:**

> I've been actively watching RWBY since Volume 5 and the thing that finally gets me to write fic for it is various looks and short exchanges over the course of five episodes got me really invested in the potential Friends to Enemies dynamic of Harriet and Marrow.
> 
> This was written before episode 6 of Volume 8 aired, so I fully expect this to be rendered canon divergent.

When Winter and the others return with Penny, Marrow isn’t there. 

“What happened?” Harriet asks.

She’s expecting to hear that there’s another body. They’d mentioned running into those damn kids again in the tundra, after all.

Elm is fuming, about to say something, but Vine stops her. Winter steps forward instead.

“We ran into members of Teams RWBY and JNPR while retrieving Penny,” she says, very pointedly not looking at Harriet, “and Amin helped them escape.”

Harriet takes a moment to understand exactly what she’s saying. 

Oh.

That is so much  _ worse. _

“What do you mean?” Harriet asks and she knows that’s a stupid question because Elm gives the only answer that’s possible.

“He betrayed us,” she spits, “turned tail and ran!” 

Harriet looks towards the General, who looks… tired. He’s looked tired since before all of this started, and very occasionally the tiredness was peppered in with other emotions. In the last 24 hours, that emotion has usually been anger.

“Well. That’s disappointing, but not unexpected,” the General says. He focuses his attention on Penny, then, and Harriet tunes him out.

Marrow betraying them… isn’t surprising? Like, sure he’s always been soft and kind of a screw up and impossibly annoying but he was also all about protecting the people and serving Atlas? Wasn’t he?

Harriet’s his partner, she spends the most time with him out of anyone else on the team, and yet she feels… caught off-guard by this. In a way she doesn’t exactly know how to explain.

Marrow  _ betrayed _ them.

Penny is damaged, and Ironwood is discussing with Winter whether or not it’s better to go to the vault now or get Watts and do repairs. Penny hasn’t moved at all.

Marrow fucking betrayed them! How could he? He was the most upset about Clover! Harriet had caught him crying earlier when he thought he was alone, and now he’s working with the killers? 

Gods. 

Maybe she should have seen this coming. Marrow may have grumbled, but was always so soft around this kids. Uggh, the blond boy probably just made a sad face and Marrow crumpled instantly. 

That’d be just like Marrow, always ready hear everybody’s fucking sob story, always too willing to hold back. They wouldn’t even be in half the mess they’re in now if he’d just remembered his semblance and froze the brats when he had all of them in one room.

Maybe Marrow would still be here if she’d gone with them.

The thought crosses her mind and something in Harriet’s chest  _ hurts _ . Maybe if she’d been there, she could have knocked some sense into him, kept him in line. That’s their thing, after all. He keeps her from rushing into things, she encourages him to be a little tougher when the situation calls for it.

Or maybe she’d just beat him senseless and then drag him kicking and screaming back up to Atlas until he apologized, like he always does when he fucks up.

Maybe she should just let him get mauled by Grimm if he wants to be a martyr so badly. It’s not like they’re friends, what does she care? Marrow’s a lost cause now, just like Mantle. They can’t be worrying about things like that.

But...

In the back of Harriet’s mind, the gears are turning. It can’t be that hard to find him. Salem’s forces haven’t mobilized yet, and it’s not like Marrow’s ever been subtle. All she has to do is grab an airship, then get Marrow and throw him in jail so she can feel the satisfaction of watching him realize that he’s wrong. Rub all that stupid self-righteousness of his in his face.

Suddenly, Harriet realizes she’s walking towards the hangar bay. She stops for a second, then starts running.

Harriet’s the fastest in Atlas, she can get there and back in time.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I love Harriet and Marrow so much, I hope they fight.
> 
> Thank you for reading! \\(^-^)/


End file.
